Jadyn Pryce
The current First Enchanter of the Argoran Circle in Orzammar, Jadyn is a noted mage who finds himself in a near impossible situation, juggling various political goals with his own personal beliefs. Background Jadyn’s father was a Grey Warden mage with blond hair and light blue eyes. That’s the extent of his knowledge concerning the man, and this fact has never bothered Jadyn a day in his life. His mother was a Rivaini apostate, called a seer amongst her people, with midnight-black hair and dark green eyes like emeralds. Jadyn inherited a mixture of her dark hair and his father's lighter color. He took her dark eyes, although his are a cloudy blue rather than gem-like green. His mother raised him on her own and when he began to show signs of magic at the age of eight, she began teaching him to use and master his gift. She didn’t teach him to hate the Chantry, but to respect their power and the great wrongs that that power has allowed them to commit. She even went so far as to compare the Chantry’s abuse of political power to the magister’s own abuse of magical power. These are lessons that Jadyn took to heart as well as healthy doses of paranoia and fear where Templars are concerned. When he was seventeen, Jadyn’s mother began teaching him some of her original magical techniques. These spells had to do with the manipulation of the Fade itself and were very powerful and quite dangerous. It was during one of their training sessions that the unthinkable happened: a very powerful demon of Pride found its way to his mother in the Fade and immediately attempted to possess her. Naturally, she instantly realized what was happening and she resisted the possession with all of her might, but she knew that it was a losing battle. Therefore, she drew the demon in and clamped down on its power with her own, becoming a temporary vessel. She then commanded Jadyn to kill her. At first he refused, but he relented when he realized the truth of the matter; he would either kill his mother now, or she would become a mad, ravenous monster and he would have to kill her then. So, while she was still able to express her love for her son, he struck her down in the middle of their home, which he then burned so as to erase the evidence and the horrible memories. This event is what has left him with such strong self-doubts and an obsession with replaying every little event in his head. To this day, Jadyn still wonders if he could have done something more, perhaps driven the demon out of his mother or even confronted it in the Fade. These are pointless, torturous thoughts, but he still has them almost daily. If any good came of this event, then it was Jadyn’s new found drive to master his powers and to ensure his magic’s superiority over the magic of others. He refined his mother’s teachings and completed her research into the connection between the Fade and a mage’s power. This allowed him to create a set of specialized techniques centered around the Fade’s energies and the destruction of other mages, should such a thing ever be called for. After this, Jadyn took to wondering and selling his services as a magical mercenary. He never stayed in one place too long, as is the plight of most apostates. He would only ever stay for longer than a few days at Grey Warden outposts due to their complete lack of concern for the Chantry’s laws against free mages. A mage is a mage to them, and Jadyn made sure to keep himself useful in either a healing or damaging capacity. Thanks to his sporadic aid to the Wardens, Jadyn is one of the few non-Wardens to have firsthand experience in dealing with the tainted menace known as darkspawn. In the end, Jadyn was caught in Orzammar during the Fifth Blight. He was there shopping for fresh lyrium dust when the gates were sealed after the late King Endrin’s death. He was therefore present for all of the craziness surrounding the eventual coronation of King Bhelen. He even got to meet the Hero of Ferelden, although they parted as simple friends due to the Hero’s duties and Jadyn’s extreme desire to stay on the good side of a certain elven assassin. It was only a number of months later that King Bhelen announced the intended creation of a new, free Circle in Orzammar. Jadyn was one of the many mages who made an immediate beeline for the dwarven city. At first, he was just one of many who were helping to construct the Circle, but he eventually proved integral to several plots for the Circle to quickly ingratiate itself to the dwarven people. Among them was an aggressive push by a small group of mages, led by Jadyn, to retake a mighty Thaig from the darkspawn hordes. After this, the dwarves began to become more open to the idea of having such useful Surfacers amongst them. It also helps that Jadyn was able to quickly when the friendship and support of King Bhelen thanks to his own natural charm. It wasn’t long after this that the Circle of Argoran was completed and the mages gathered to decide on their new leader. It didn’t surprise many when they named Jadyn the very first First Enchanter of the Argoran Circle. Since these events, First Enchanter Jadyn has had his hands full, mostly with organizing his Circle and learning the complexities of dwarven politics. Regardless, the Circle has made steady progress towards becoming a fully functional, and rather impressive, facet of dwarven life. Appearance For the most part, Jadyn is pretty average. His face is handsome enough, but no more so than any other ‘handsome’ man would be. His nose is a bit too small for his face and his lips are slightly larger than he would like, but these are small flaws that add to his ‘character’, as his mother was fond of saying. His skin has always had a naturally tan complexion, but, sadly, his time in Orzammar has left him somewhat paler than usual, a fact that he tends to get annoyed over. Jadyn's hair is a dark brown with some lighter overtones here and there. He keeps it cut short so that it's always more manageable and out of his eyes. Overall, it has a certain shine that is rare within Orzammar. This is due to his constant care for it. He uses a multitude of herbs and oils to keep it soft and light. His hair is one of the few things he fusses over. His jawline and chin are constantly sporting some amount of hair. He prefers to keep this beard trimmed, but it has been known to grow into a mountain-man look. These instances are a source of great amusement to the dwarves of Orzammar. His physical posture is often relaxed and friendly, but it can change in an instant. When he senses danger or feels threatened, his back straitens and he plants his feet firmly on the ground. Jadyn rarely strikes first in a confrontation, but he's always ready to counter and counter-strike (a fact that his posture generally reflects). According to Jadyn, robes are terrible. They’re restrictive and far too eye-catching, a death sentence for any apostate. There for, he has always been drawn more towards very light armor, usually made out of cloth with only a few metal accents. His current preferred outfit actually enhances his ability to move and makes him appear more lithe and limber than he actually is (These facets equate to bonuses to defense and attack). Furthermore, his gloves/gauntlets have a rare lyrium weave, gifted to him by the dwarves, which allows them to channel his magic more easily (This equates to a bonus to mana and mana regeneration). His only other worthwhile possession is a magical ring given to him by his mother: Dreamsever. With the ability to increase his connection to the Fade and thus further empower his spirit magic, this ring has been his constant companion since he discovered his magic at the age of eight, despite the fact that he wasn’t able to activate the ring’s power until much later. Personality On the surface, Jadyn is calm and collected. He always shows the utmost respect to others in positions of authority while affording others below his station the common respect that any man or woman would deserve. It takes a lot to get under his skin or perturb him in the least. However, this calm surface of civility is a façade which hides a whole host of insecurities and doubts. While few would ever know, Jadyn second guesses everything he does or says, sometimes spending hours, even days, obsessing about how any given situation might have been better handled. This self-doubt has only increased since his becoming the First Enchanter of his own Circle. He is constantly worried of doing or saying the wrong thing, particularly due to the unique nature of his Circle’s situation. Despite all of this though, Jadyn has always been a capable leader type. He’s friendly, kind, and is generally likable. He’ll speak to anyone he meets and he always has a kind word to say. This 'good' attitude has always earned him a lot of friends and even strangers are generally willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in any given situation, mostly due to his open nature. Jadyn doesn’t lie and he has a strong dislike for anyone who does. His good feelings and kindness however, have their limits. These limits generally show themselves with concern to the Chantry and blood magic. Jadyn has no love for the Chantry as a militant or political organization, but he’s completely indifferent to it as a religion. As far as he’s concerned, if the Maker is real, then he has indeed left this world to rot, so why should he pay attention to the laws of a completely indifferent deity? However, the length to which the Chantry goes just to keep a handle on the mages of Thedas is ridiculous and outrages with many of the outrages coming from the Templar Order. While he might understand the Chantry’s desire to keep a check on mages, he will never bow to their wishes for complete obedience and domination. However, he draws the line of “mage freedom” at the use of blood magic. As far as Jadyn’s concerned, blood magic has done nothing but inflame the people’s hatred of mages and given the Chantry all of the ammunition they need against the idea of letting the Circles have greater freedoms and autonomy. These feelings lead to Jadyn putting most Templars in the same category as most blood mages – that is, the needs to go away category. Jadyn’s feelings about the rest of Thedas are fluid. No country is perfect, nor is any political or social situation. This leaves him with a hint of antipathy for most things outside of Orzammar and his Circle. He doesn’t even really care what the dwarves do so long as they continue to favor his mages. This means that he has no solid feelings about the state of the casteless or the elves in the surface alienages. In fact, he hardly cares about any surface strife and he’ll generally show signs of listlessness if forced to deal with any of it. This doesn’t apply to the other Circles of Thedas of course, nor does it apply to the Grey Wardens. The Circles are an obvious exception, particularly after the Kirkwall incident, and he generally pays attention to the movements of the Grey Wardens due to the constant darkspawn threats that come with living amongst the dwarves of Orzammar. It’s always a good idea to keep up with your allies in such struggles, after all. Abilities Jadyn has alway had a strong connection to the Fade, much like his mother. As a result, he has a much larger mana pool than most and his mana tends to regenerate much faster. His studies into the arcane art of Spirit magic was only natural and it coincided nicely with what his mother was able to teach him. He learned early on how to call on the energies of the Fade in the form of spirit bolts and enhancing waves of magical might, but he also learned to recognize and combat malevolent spirits and demons from within the Fade as well as mages outside of it. He can even infect his enemies with the energies of the Fade, a process which damages them and turns them into literal time bombs. Early in his life, Jadyn realized that there were many things that wished him and his loved ones harm, namely evil-doers and Templars. As a result, he developed a drive to learn the necessary spells to ensure his ability to preserve the well-being of those close to him, namely the healing spells from the school of Creation. Going from one extreme to the other, Jadyn has learned that the best opponent, is a weakened one. Following this logic, he began studying the secrets of Entropy magic, another source of Fade induced damage as fate would have it. As such, he found that many of its spells and abilities coincided nicely with those of his Spirit school. Specifically, Jadyn is a master of the Horror spell, rending the minds of his foes with Fade induced hallucinations and fever dreams in order to stun them and inflict spirit damage over the course of the spell's effects. Seer While his mother was called "seer" amongst her people, it was more of a title as opposed to an actual reference to her magical abilities. Jadyn though, thanks to his predisposition for Spirit magic, has taken the term to new heights through both his mother's teaching and his own personal study. The term "Seer" now applies to a specialized brand of magic, formulated and practiced by Jadyn himself. As a master of this particular form of magic, Jadyn has formed an unprecedented connection to the Fade despite his initial refusal to have any dealings with the Fade's inhabitants. Thanks to this connection, Jadyn has created a chain of abilities which allows him to bathe entire areas in harmful Fade energies, turn an enemy mage's own powers against them, and even surround himself in a net of powerful Fade-induced visions which will stop and destroy any foolish enough to come near. His mastery over these techniques has given each one of them a corrosive edge, threatening to infect any touched by them with poisonous, explosive Fade energy turning them into literal death traps. Spirit Healer Stemming from his own knowledge of Creation magic and his desire to ensure the health of his friends and loved ones, it was a natural progression for Jadyn to become a Spirit Healer, but it wasn't an easy process. His own experiences with the Fade's inhabitants have left him with very negative views of such creatures, so it was initially quite difficult for him to make contact with any spirit and form a bond of trust. Eventually though, he did find a Spirit of Protection with whome he was able to connect. As a Spirit Healer, there is almost no wound Jadyn can't heal and his ability to heal multiple targets at once is a boon beyond reckoning. In battle, he can almost always be counted on to generate an aura of miraculous healing energy, which gives off a soft, blue glow. He also has the ability to shield an allies life force, at least for a short time, ensuring that any would that would have been fatal is instantly healed. Recent Events His most recent ordeal has had to do with, what else, the Chantry. For the past ten years, they have sought an entrance into the Argoran Circle, but only recently have they convinced the dwarves to allow them entry into Orzammar. With the recent disturbance in Kirkwall, the dwarves have been made wary of the mage's presence, despite all the mages have done for them over the past decade. Thanks to this unease, the dwarven nobles have impressed upon their King their wishes for some form of supervision over the Circle. These feelings and calls for Chantry intervention have forced Jadyn to make a very difficult decision with very little time to think; he has agreed to allow the entrance of some Chantry individuals and the stationing of a small number of Templars within Argoran's halls. This decision has been met with enthusiasm by some and scorn by others. Now it is up to Jadyn to deal with keeping peace between both sides as well as maintaining a good relationship with the dwarven people. Relationships Carmen Elizhar Carmen was Jadyn's mother and the most important person in his life. She loved him, cared for him, and taught him everything she knew about magic and the Fade. She was also one of the kindest and most sincere people Jadyn has ever met. These are traights which he developed for himself thanks to her guidance and patience. It was also thanks to her that he developed such a friendly attitude. She refused to have her son grow up as some backwoods, antisocial apostate-hermit. Her death has, by far, been the hardest and most life-changing moment in Jadyn's life. It's the reason behind his self-doubt and anxiety and it is also the reason behind his quickly developed magical might. This event is also behind his refusal to deal with most spirits and absolutely any demons. This attitude eventually extended to blood mages due to their fondness for demonic interactions. So, his mother has easily been the most powerful influence over the course of Jadyn's life. Redirect Main Page Site Backstory Category:Mage Category:Humans Category:Nevarra Category:Original Category:Orzammar